Briar Rose
225px |strength = 3 |health = 4 |cost = 5 |set = Premium |rarity = Legendary |class = Solar |tribe = Flower Plant |trait = None |ability = When a Zombie hurts a Flower, destroy that Zombie. |flavor text = "You mess with the rose, you get the thorns!"}} Briar Rose is a in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes and a member of the class. She costs 5 to play and has 3 /4 . She doesn't have any traits, and her ability destroys any zombie that does damage to a plant, including her, instantly after. This ability activates even if the damage destroys the flower and persists until all Briar Roses are removed from the field. Origins She's based on a rose, a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Roseceae, or the flower it bears. Her name could be a reference to Sleeping Beauty, also known as Little Briar Rose, a classic fairy tale written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. A "briar" is a prickly scrambling shrub or plant, such as a wild rose. Her description is a reference to the quote, "Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns." from the movie The Breakfast Club. Statistics *'Class:' Solar *'Tribe:' Flower Plant *'Traits:' None *'Ability:' When a Zombie hurts a Flower, destroy that Zombie. *'Set - Rarity:' Premium - Legendary Card description "You mess with the rose, you get the thorns!" Update history Update 1.2.11 *Name change: Rose Thorn → Briar Rose Update 1.12.6 * Ability change: No longer activates if a zombie that damaged a flower has already been destroyed in combat. Update 1.16.10 * |4 }} *Rarity change: Super Rare → Legendary Update 1.22.12 *Animation change: Legendary shine added. Update 1.30.4 * |5 }} Strategies With Briar Rose has bad stats for a 5 plant, but her ability is what makes her one of the most feared plants in the game. While a flower has to be hurt to activate it, she is able to destroy any zombie regardless of strength or placement, which is essentially a cheaper and more versatile instant-kill compared to others like and . And just like any instant-kill card, Briar Rose can destroy shielded zombies like and the zombies shielded by Zombie Coach, Zombot Battlecruiser 5000, or Escape through Time. And while minor, her strength stat of 3 means she cannot be destroyed by most instant-kill tricks like Rolling Stone, Weed Spray, Rocket Science, and Cut Down to Size. She works very well with ramp cards such as Solar Winds and Sunflower Seed as like other similar cards, the earlier she comes out to play, the better she has an impact on the field. The more flowers you use with this, the better she gets. As long as Briar Rose is in play, even weak flowers like Bellflower and Sunflower can be used as cannon fodder for dangerous threats like Shieldcrusher Viking, Wannabe Hero, , Zombot Battlecruiser 5000, and even Gargantuars' Feast. Even on her own, Briar Rose is still very effective since she is basically a hard removal card with a body. However, be wary of tricks, and now that her cost has been increased, this tactic may not be as viable. The hero who can use this plant to her maximum potential is Wall-Knight, since he has access to Steel Magnolia, which increases other plants' health so they can withstand more hits, Poppin' Poppies, which creates 3 Lil' Buddies, spelling doom to any attacking zombies in the same lane as Poppin' Poppies and next door, and , which can protect Briar Rose with his high health. She also works well with Soul Patch due to their combined abilities being capable of destroying any zombie that attempts to attack you. Chompzilla may not be as efficient in the health-boosting side of things, as she will have to rely on cards such as Fertilize to do so. However, she does have access to , which is not only a flower herself, but it will also allow Briar Rose to have immunity to her biggest weakness, tricks. Against Briar Rose is a very devastating plant if the field is full of flowers. But since her ability only activates against zombies, you are free to play tricks and environments at your disposal. The best method of dealing with Briar Rose is Knockout, as it can destroy both Briar Rose and whatever is on the same lane as her (as long as it has 3 strength or less), but if you don't have one, resort to slightly less effective ones like Cakesplosion or Locust Swarm to dispose of her quickly. As The Smash, you can surprise the opponent by using Slammin' Smackdown to instantly destroy her only for 1 brain. But if you really have no alternative other than to directly attack Briar Rose, it is best to destroy her in one hit. Another option is to wipe out the other flowers first so that Briar Rose may wreak less havoc. Weed Spray or The Chickening could do the job, but they may not be able to destroy all (or even most) of the flowers due to both of them having limits. Barrel of Deadbeards is also a viable choice, as Briar Rose's ability only affects it, leaving the other zombies unharmed and making a Captain Deadbeard as well. But either way, bonus attack cards are worthless against her, as the zombie will just be hastening its doom. Rustbolt can use Shrink Ray on this to remove her ability to fight back. However, her ability can still cause a nuisance, so playing Rolling Stone soon afterward should do the job. As a zombie hero, you can use Deadly zombies to quickly dispose of Briar Rose. Alternatively, Super Stench and Laser Base Alpha combined with either Barrel of Deadbeards or Fireworks Zombie (only as Impfinity) can be used to clear all plants, including her. However, you must also note that doing so will wipe out all your zombies as well. Alternatively, you can also Bounce this plant. Her high cost makes replaying her very punishing for your opponent, and if your opponent relies on this to win, they won't have time to set this back up. Alternatively, try Zombot Stomp to bounce this and every other plant on the ground - You won't see that plant for a few turns from now. Gallery Trivia *When Briar Rose activates her ability, her head turns bright red, and a red flash appears like that of Arcane Enigma. Category:Plants Category:Flower cards Category:Instant-kill cards Category:Plants vs. Zombies Heroes plants Category:Instant-kill plants Category:Multi-use instant-kill plants